BNP’s Vice Chairman Abdullah Al Noman has been released hours after he was detained in Gazipur while campaigning for a party man running for city corporation mayor.

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“He was released around 10pm,” Noman’s personal secretary Nurul Azim Hiru confirmed bdnews24.com. “(He) is now on his way to Dhaka.”

Police nabbed him and other party leaders and activists around 5:20pm while he was coming out of BNP-nominated Gazipur City Corporation mayor candidate Hassan Uddin Sarkar's Tongi residence on Sunday afternoon.

Gazipur Superintendent of Police Harun-ar-Rashid told bdnews24.com Noman had been kept in the police station because of security risks. Later, he was released.

In the evening, Gazipur’s Assistant Superintendent of Police Rasel Sheikh had said ten BNP men have been detained on charges of blocking roads, vandalising public transports and sparking fear among the public.

But several others detained with Noman have not been released, Tongi Police Station ASI Md Foyez told bdnews24.com.

Immediately after the detention, police cordoned off the mayoral hopeful Sarkar's Tongi residence.

Several leaders and activists, including BNP Vice Chairman Barkatullah Bulu, Joint Secretary-General Syed Moazzam Hossain Alal and Gazipur district chapter of BNP’s President Fazlul Haque Milon were in the residence during the cordon.

Around 10pm, police withdrew it.

The High Court’s stay order on Gazipur polls scheduled for May 15 has angered BNP leaders and activists who were on the election campaign.

Sarkar held a news conference at his residence where Noman was present.

Hiru told bdnews24.com, “Police picked him (Noman) after he came out from Hasan Sarkar’s residence.”

Assistant Sub-Inspector Tania Akhter of Tongi Police Station said they had brought in 13 people, including Noman.